Local kids’ letters to Obama

In case you missed it, I wrote a story in yesterday’s Chronicle about an 826 Valencia homework project that turned into a book — “Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama.”

826national.org

Watch out Obama — Lincoln is still haunting the White House.

The letters ended up coming from all over the country, but the idea originated at 826 Valencia in the Mission District, where students wrote letters to Obama a few days after his election win. Our photographer Brant Ward also shot some video of the kids reading their letters during Wednesday night event we attended. I was glad I had read the letter by Yoselin Martinez (misidentified as Miraya Perez in the video) before the reading at 826 Valencia, because I would have started bawling in front of all the parents and staff.

“My neighbors think that I am just another Latino that is going to ruin her life. But they are so wrong,” Martinez wrote. “I want to go to great high schools. I want to graduate from college and show my mom that I worked my butt off.”

Some of the letters were printed in their entirety in the New York Times. You can see more of the book and buy a copy here, or just look in your local bookstore. And give credit to 826 Valencia and their after-school program director Jory John for putting together such a heartfelt and funny book under a tough deadline.